When Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880, her "life was simple and much like every other little life." She lived as an ordinary baby until the age of one. It was then that she contracted an "illness which closed [her] eyes and ears and plunged [her] into the unconsciousness of a new-born baby." Helen was deaf and blind for the rest of her life because of the illness.
In that time in history, some people believed that a person with the disabilities of blindness and deafness could not be educated or live a productive and happy life. Helen's parents, however, did not feel this way. They wanted their daughter to be educated and to have some level of independence.
On her father's side, Helen's ancestors were from Switzerland. Among her "Swiss ancestors was the first teacher of the deaf in Zurich... [who] wrote a book on the subject of their education." Helen described this as "rather a singular coincidence." Not only did Helen become deaf herself, but she also received an education despite her disability. Education of the deaf was the very thing that her ancestor had worked hard to improve.
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